The present invention relates to a locking mechanism to stably maintain the halted state of an openable unit, such as a hinged door, sliding door, and drawer, at the stop position, including the fully closed position.
Patent Reference 1 discloses a shock absorber for a sliding door to ease the shock felt by the door when it is closed by allowing the uneven section provided in the slider to fit into the uneven section provided in the receiving member when the sliding door moves toward the stop position.
Such a shock absorber, however, was unable to completely absorb the shock when the traveling speed of the sliding door moving in the closing direction was excessive. Moreover, when the traveling speed was small, the sliding door came to a halt before it was completely closed.
Patent Reference 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H08-21147.
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an a retracting locking mechanism for an openable unit for producing and stably maintaining the halted state of the openable unit regardless of the traveling speed of the openable unit moving towards the stop position, while allowing it to gently come to a halt.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.